The Florida Everblades left town riding a five-game winning streak, but return to Germain Arena this week to face the Cincinnati Cyclones smarting from a three-game losing streak.

It’s only the second time this season the Everblades (33-12-2) have lost three in a row, and even though some may think it’s because of the brutal schedule of late – seven games in 10 days in three cities over three states – coach Malcolm Cameron begs to differ.

“Just poor defense,” he said. “Poor defensive team concept, just poor team defense We’ve (also) had a lot of firepower missing (from) our lineup over those three games.”

Two of the top scores – Mark Lee (8 goals, 20 assists) and Ryan Lang (16 goals, 26 assists – were missing. Lee hopes to return this weekend and Lang remains on injured reserve.

“I’ve stressed since February 1st, since we lost Lang to injury, that we were going to have to play impeccably defensively, especially with five games in seven nights,” said Cameron. “Unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

Despite the poor defensive effort, Cameron still was pleased with the team’s overall play, unlike the last time the Blades lost three straight.

Besides hoping to see better defense in three games against the North Division-leading Cyclones (27-17-5), starting tonight, Cameron has something else to look forward to – playing against a team he once coached.

During the 2003-04 season, Cameron coached the Cyclones to a 36-29-7 record, but he’s happy just to be playing someone other than the Gwinnett Gladiators, Charlotte Checkers or the South Carolina Stingrays.

“Everybody is sick of seeing (those teams) I think,” said Cameron. “It’s fun for me to prepare for a team that I almost could prepare for blindfolded I thought it was just a four-team division for as much as I’ve seen lately.”

Slap Shots: The Blades get some offensive help with the return of Yannick Tifu, who has spent the last five weeks on call-up to the Albany River Rats of the AHL, where he played in six games and notched six points.

Team captain Kevin Baker achieved another milestone over the weekend when he tied the team’s record for most goals scored in a season (40) after scoring against the Charlotte Checkers Sunday.

“It’s an accomplishment,” he said, “but I give a lot of the credit to my teammates and the guys who play on my line.”

Brian McCullough scored 40 for the Blades during the 2003-04 campaign which Baker is sure to break with 25 games left to play on the season.

The Blades traded defenseman Aaron Brocklehurst to the Victoria Salmon Kings Tuesday for forward Milan Gajic, 27, who played in four games with the Salmon Kings this season where he collected one

Brocklehurst, 23, one of three Everblades to play in the ECHL All-Star Game, heads to Victoria having collected 20 points in 37 games.